The present invention generally relates to a vision system and more particularly to a portable vehicular vision system which may be selectively used to acquire and display images of objects residing proximate to a vehicle and/or images of the environment in which the vehicle resides.
Presently, cameras are deployed within and/or upon vehicles to acquire images of the ambient vehicular environment (i.e., the environment in which the vehicle resides) and/or of objects disposed within this ambient vehicular environment. Typically, these cameras are fixedly disposed upon a portion of the vehicle and are adapted to respectively receive images of objects or portions of the environment existing and/or located along a certain direction with respect to the vehicle. Further, these cameras are typically and communicatively coupled to a dedicated display screen which is substantially and only adapted to operate in combination with these cameras.
While this previously delineated configuration does allow for the selective acquisition and display of images of objects and/or a certain portion of the ambient vehicular environment, it does suffer from some drawbacks. By way of example and without limitation, these cameras and/or displays are oftentimes typically rendered inoperable upon the deactivation of the engine, thereby undesirably preventing passengers from obtaining such desired images when the vehicle is parked and inoperative. Further, such cameras and/or displays are typically rendered inoperable upon the loss of electrical power emanating from the vehicle battery, thereby preventing passengers from obtaining such images when the vehicle becomes electrically disabled. For example, a stranded motorist may particularly find these images useful in identifying potential sources of assistance and the failure of the system to provide such images in this situation may be particularly disconcerting to the vehicle owner.
Moreover, each of the cameras is typically and singularly adapted to acquire images from a certain portion of the vehicular ambient environment due to the stationary and/or fixed deployment of these cameras upon the vehicle, thereby restricting and/or undesirably limiting their usefulness and their xe2x80x9crangexe2x80x9d (i.e., the amount of the environment that these cameras may respectively xe2x80x9coperatexe2x80x9d or acquire images within).
Lastly, the dedicated display requires and occupies a relatively large amount of space within the passenger compartment, even when inoperable or deactivated. Due to the relatively limited amount of available space within the passenger compartment and the respective mounting requirements of the plethora of assemblies and devices required and/or desired to be placed within the passenger compartment, the space required by the deactivated or inoperable display assembly may prevent a certain assembly from being utilized and/or require that other desired assemblies and apparatuses be mounted in a substantially unaesthetically pleasing and/or operationally undesirable manner.
There is therefore a need for a vision system which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior vision systems and which, by way of example and without limitation, selectively allows images of the ambient vehicular environment to be selectively acquired and displayed within the vehicle.
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a vision system which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior vision systems.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a vision system which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior vision systems and which allows images of a vehicular ambient environment to be selectively acquired and displayed within a vehicle.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a vision system which overcomes at least some of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior vision systems and which, by way of example and without limitation, includes a portable display portion which may be selectively stored when not used.
It is a fourth object of the present invention to provide a vehicular vision system which includes an image acquisition and display portion which may be selectively and operatively used and mounted within a vehicle and which may further be operatively used outside of the vehicle and/or at various selected locations within the vehicle.
According to a first aspect of the present invention a vision system is provided. The vision system includes a display portion; a camera which is removably mounted upon the display portion and which selective acquires images and communicates the images to the display portion; and a mounting portion which selectively and removably receives the display portion.
According to a second aspect of the present invention a method is provided. The method includes the steps of providing an image acquisition and display apparatus; and removably mounting the apparatus within a vehicle.
These and other features, aspects, and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and by reference to the following drawings.